Book Nook Fort

Happy New Year's everyone. Seems every year around the holiday season my life gets so darn busy that I don't get time to write. So many things to say and share but today we are just going to stick to a fun DIY project I did yesterday for my kiddos to brighten up an eyesore from our playroom. A Book Nook Fort!

So, I love the playroom in our new house. It is wonderful to finally have a place where all of their toys belong and that they can play for long stretches of time safely. It has truly changed our daily routine for the better.

That being said, there was one corner that I wasn't happy with and yesterday I fixed it up nice. In the corner I have an old hand-me-down dining room table with the center leaf removed. We no longer needed this table but it didn't sell at my garage sale before we moved last Summer so I decided to hang onto it just in case. It worked pretty well to keep our little TV/VCR combo up high and out of reach of the littles while they watch movies but underneath the table was the one electrical outlet that we use in that room and the twins recently discovered that they could unplug things and it worried me. Here is a before picture of the table in the room.

Lots of fun toys. Lots of bright colors. Ugly brown and black crap in the corner. My solution was to turn that wasted, unattractive and slightly dangerous space into a fun and useful play area. Here is how I did it:

 I moved and repurposed 2 shelves I was already using for their toys in there. I flipped them onto their sides, duct taped them together around the back so that the kids can't pull them down and hurt themselves and then slid the unit under the table and up against the wall. This also helped block the kids' access to the exposed electrical outlet.

I purchased one 16 foot LED Ropelight in white and secured it up under the table top. Cost $12.47.

DJ was so excited and underfoot but it was adorable. I at least waited until the twins were napping to start this project. The Candyland rug she is sitting on was a $2 garage sale find I just couldn't pass up last Summer. It fit perfectly.

I purchased 4 yards of fabric but only ended up needing 3 yards so the cost for fabric used was about $16.00. I had taken the 3 littles along to buy the fabric and we were leaning towards Dinosaurs until we saw this fabric and the twins were so excited because it was just like Nemo. Of course.

I measured underneath the 2 sides of the table and the front section. I left the back of the table facing the wall open for safety and access to the outlet. For the 2 sides I sewed 2 rectangle panels and secured them up under the table with the staple gun. For the front section I sewed 2 panels and purchased a tension rod for $3.47. This way the front panels slide open like curtains.

I think this looks so much better. I also placed a power strip behind the little TV so I do not have to keep crawling under the table anymore whenever I have to switch out plugs for the TV, DVD player, their Lite Brite, and so on. Much more user friendly for me as well.

Total project cost was around $32.50. I could have done it a little cheaper by sticking to a clearance fabric but these fish were too perfect to pass up. I didn't even intend this, but when it is lit up and the curtains are closed, it almost looks like a cute little aquarium too. Bonus!

And then the twins woke up from their nap. I had to take some pictures of them enjoying their new spot.

They realized immediately that they could shut me out. Lol!

A couple old throw pillows and a sippy cup of milk. What more could they want? All in all, a success in my book. Pun intended! Have a wonderful rest of your weekend and happy reading!

Me Soup!

I make stuff up. As a parent, I mean. Always looking for creative ways to keep the day on track and the kids as content as possible. All in the name of parental sanity. I have a sneaking suspicion that I am not the only one.

When my teenagers were little there was a time where they both decided they no longer liked bath time. Ugh. I am not exactly sure why. They take many more baths in the summer time when they are outside getting good and dirty more often. It wasn't like baths were a new thing around here. They didn't seem scared really. Maybe it was a control thing. Maybe they were just testing me out. But, I was getting so tired of the battle most nights. One night a light bulb came on in my head and that is when I started playing 'Me Soup'.

There is an old Shel Silverstein poem called Me Stew.

Image from: http://lynnerickardsauthor.wordpress.com/tag/shel-silverstein/

My kids knew the word soup better than stew so I went with that. I remember saying something along the lines of, "That's it, enough, up to the bathroom, I have an idea." Trying to get them all excited for their bath. I gathered up a pile of toy vegetables and such from their toy kitchen area and made a quick stop by the kitchen for a couple of wooden spoons from my utensil drawer. To the bathroom we went. To play 'Me Soup' in the tub. And it worked!

Now, they already had a bazillion bath toys. Kids get bored, though. I have found that it is better if I rotate the toys in and out of their worlds every so often so that they find them exciting and like new again, each time I bring them back out. This game was just what they needed to adjust their kid-skewed outlook on bath time.

Today, fast forwarding quite a few years, my twin toddlers were cranky as all get out and I decided 'Me Soup' was the answer. They got to play it for the first time today. It was great!

They both had a very good time and cheered up significantly. Whew! My morning has been saved.

I do not have pictures of the other thing I used to do for my second son. Back when he was younger, and 'Me Soup' was old news to him, we had Disco Bath Night. He had one of those plastic disco balls in his bedroom. I brought it into the bathroom with us and plugged it in on the opposite side of the bathroom, far from the tub for safety purposes, along with his radio. We turned out the lights and he took his bath while we listened to some tunes and fun colored lights glowed all over the bathroom. That one was a big hit, too. Like I said, whatever gets us through the day sometimes.

I would love to hear any of your fun bath time ideas. Feel free to comment and share how you stay sane at bath time. Bye for now!